Hi,

I still owe the list the November trip report to Eilat.  This time the
doctor did not join the Friday early morning ride to Eilat so I did the
first day dive with the painter.  We got to Eilat at noon and immediately
entered the 24C water for a deep dive near the lighthouse reef.  It takes a
150 meters swim out and then a vertical descent to 50 meters.  The
visibility was O.K. in Eilat standards (~20 meters) and we hit the reef in
about 2.5 minutes.  The first reason to dive so deep is that some of the
shallower reefs are bit up.  Another reason is that Eilat is one of the few
places where one can do a very deep shore dive so we do it.

This time the surface currents swept us to the north away from the better
deep reef so the dive was O.K. but not a hit in terms of corals.  The
underwater life in November is recovering from the hot season, in which we
get to see less fish around.  We could see most of the typical local
inhabitants like all kinds of jacks, trigger fish, barracudas, morays and
so on.  After a short trip around the deep reef we ascended in blue water
to 15 meters, while finning east towards the slope and when we met the
slope, we ascended very slowly along the shallow reef to off gas and to
enjoy the colorful coral heads.

The doc, his 16 years old son and a guest (an American journalist) joined
us in the afternoon and we all went in for a wreck night dive.  The wreck
is an old Israeli Navy missile boat, which was sunk in Eilat about 10 years
ago to become an artificial reef.  It's a nice max 25 meters dive and it is
very close to shore so it doesn't take too much effort to get there.  Most
of the fish that frequent that site during the day are gone at night and
even the local turtle was not there.  So we settled for the spooky "Alien"
movie scenery that this site offered at night and ascended after 31 minutes
to drink our traditional "after night dive" Scotch shot and then to our
favorite restaurant for a nice steak meal.

The next day the doc's group went for an easy dive so it gave us (me and
the painter) a chance to do the best dive in Eilat by ourselves.  To
understand the type of dive I am talking about, one needs a description of
the site.   Most of the south shoreline in Eilat is a nature reserve (no
fishing allowed) but the most beautiful part was closed about 20 years ago
for preservation.  1.5 km of beach has a fence around it, one has to pay to
get in and snorkel or dive, and park rangers are monitoring the
activity.  Two bridges for shore entry were built to prevent the damage to
the shallow lagoon inside the coral wall and divers can dive there but only
in the north part.  The south part  "The Japanese Gardens" was closed
completely for shore dives about 7 years ago.  They only let in a few
guided dive groups every day and the dives are from boats, in a standard
route.  The deep reef is the best reef in Eilat but it is not dived at all
and the only way to see it is by taking a ride in the "yellow submarine"
which operates there.  Well, almost :-)

The real way to do it (and this is what we did) is to wait for a day with a
moderate south current, to swim on the surface the first (north) 500 meters
of the reserve (a relatively boring dive), to swim out to the dark blue and
to descend on the coral wall.  This wall begins in 20 MSW and ends up in 45
MSW with a sandy ledge.  Then you just let the current take you along this
wall for a ride with the best underwater scenery you can get in Eilat.  The
wall is covered (no sand patches at all) with healthy corals, large schools
of fish, and if you get closer, a paradise of small stuff for the macro
photographers.  The visibility is usually 30+ meters.  If you are lucky
(and we were, that day) you meet the "yellow submarine" on the way and see
the passengers looking at you.  Flashes of camera reveal that they enjoyed
the meeting at least as much as you did.  If the current is right, the
journey takes about 60 minutes of very slow ascent, within the computer
limits and the last part of the way is done on the very shallow reef to
avoid decompression.

A great dive, which was followed by another regular 60 minutes reef dive
with the whole group.  Actually the last dive was kind of an anti climax
after the "reserve current ride" dive but one doesn't sit out a dive in
Eilat when one gets there only 5 times a year.  At least I don't.

This is the Eilat trip report I promised and it is a very good time to send
it to the list because it is so quiet around lately.


Regards

                       Kuty